Returns the hypergeometric distribution. HYPGEOMDIST returns the probability of a given number of sample successes, given the sample size, population successes, and population size. Use HYPGEOMDIST for problems with a finite population, where each observation is either a success or a failure, and where each subset of a given size is chosen with equal likelihood.
Syntax
HYPGEOMDIST(sample_s,number_sample,population_s,number_population)
Sample_s is the number of successes in the sample.
Number_sample is the size of the sample.
Population_s is the number of successes in the population.
Number_population is the population size.
Remarks
where:
x = sample_s
n = number_sample
M = population_s
N = number_population
HYPGEOMDIST is used in sampling without replacement from a finite population.
Example
A sampler of chocolates contains 20 pieces. Eight pieces are caramels, and the remaining 12 are nuts. If a person selects 4 pieces at random, the following function returns the probability that exactly 1 piece is a caramel.
The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank spreadsheet.
Selecting an example from Help
Data | Description |
---|---|
1 | Number of successes in the sample |
4 | Sample size |
8 | Number of successes in the population |
20 | Population size |
Formula | Description (Result) |
=HYPGEOMDIST(A2,A3,A4,A5) | Hypergeometric distribution for sample and population above (0.363261) |